


this is the fall

by mauvepens



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Gen, Tartarus, Tartarus (Percy Jackson) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:15:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28498899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mauvepens/pseuds/mauvepens
Summary: "An eye for an eye," Leo muttered. He looked up at Jason with a wide, open face. "Finish the quest, yeah?" And with that, Leo's hand lights up in flame, and he lets go.
Relationships: Jason Grace & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace/Leo Valdez
Comments: 13
Kudos: 41





	this is the fall

**Author's Note:**

> i try to be poetic, but i’m pretty sure i just look stupid

Jason was relieved that Annabeth had gotten back safely from her guest under Rome. She and Percy were currently embracing on the floor while everyone else flitted around attempting to secure the Athena Parthenos to the ship. Jason and Frank were flying around the statue with ropes, attempting to drag it on board as Leo yelled instructions from the helm of the ship. Once they had fully pulled it up onto the front deck, Jason saw Leo's eyes widen dramatically. 

Leo somersaulted over the side of the ship, rolling and hitting the ground at a dead run. Jason couldn't see what he was running to, until he skidded to a stop where Annabeth was crawling towards the rope ladder. He grabbed a small knife from his belt and cut the spider silk that was looped around her broken ankle. Annabeth shot him a grateful smile and reached out her hand for him to grab. Leo reached forward when he was suddenly dragged back. 

In the process of sprinting over to Annabeth, Leo had gotten his foot tangled in some of the sleek silk that was strewn around the cavern. The magnetic pull of Tartarus had him trapped. Jason dropped his rope and ran across the floor, trying to keep up with Leo, who was being pulled abnormally fast. Jason took a flying leap and tackled Leo, both of them rolling across the ground towards the pit. Jason could hear Piper's screams as the rest of the crew figured out what was happening.

Leo's spider silk constraint was tightening, pulling the two of them down. From Tartarus, Jason could hear the whispers of monsters, the cruel laughter of those who Jason had killed. A chant of _‘come to us, son of Jupiter. Come take a jump’._ Jason slammed painfully against the side of the wall, fingers scrambling for a hold on the smooth sides. He managed to grab onto one around 10 inches below the edge of the pit. Jason looked down to see Leo's face, which was covered in scratches from their tumble against the floor. Oddly enough, he didn't look scared. Instead, Leo looked like he was calculating something, his head tilted slightly to the side as he scrambled in the air. Jason didn't have enough time to think about what that meant, as he suddenly saw Annabeth as close to Tartarus as she dared, stretching out a hand as if that was going to help. 

__

"Jason," Leo called, voice filled with desperation. "You need to let go. You're not going to be able to pull both of us up". 

__

It took Jason a second to comprehend that Leo had said something so _monumentally_ stupid. His arm was tiring, but there's no way Jason would willingly let Leo fall into the literal pit of Hell to save his own skin. "Leo, I'm not doing that. If we go, we go together". 

__

Jason looked down at Leo's face, his cloud of black curls, and the sparks of fire dancing along his arms. Jason's entire brain is filled with a feeling of _(this is the fall, the fall, the fall)_. 

__

"An eye for an eye," Leo muttered. He looked up at Jason with a wide, open face. "Finish the quest, yeah?". And with that, Leo's hand lights up in flame, and he lets go.

__

In that second, it's like time stands still. The twisted part of Jason's brain can appreciate the beauty of it. He is reaching out, a pale hand grasping the darkness _(that darkness of evil, and loss, and despair)_. Leo is splayed out in the air, looking for all the world like a bird in flight with his slim wrists and extended hands. His body is still angled towards Jason's, dark blue shadows playing against his skin as the rust-orange fire snuffs out.

__

Jason was still frozen hanging off the cliff, watching Leo _(his..what was was Leo to him again?)_ plummet into the endless night. Everything after that was a blur. Jason faintly remembers clawing out of Tartarus, walking to the ship as if there was a weight dragging at his ankles _(a 120 pound weight to be exact, Leo was always no more than skin and bones)_.

__

Everyone collapsed around the dining table. Jason stared at the intricate wood grain, listening to the various sounds of crying. Hazel had her head down on the table, her hair spread around her face as Frank rubbed her back. Frank's eyes were red too, which rather surprised Jason, considering he and Leo never got on well. Nico Di Angelo was standing awkwardly in the corner, obviously not sure how to react to this overflow of grief for someone he didn't even know _(and now he'd never get the chance)_.

__

Annabeth, of course, is the one who gets them going again. She escorted Piper, who was still sobbing like the world has ended _(and maybe it has, what's life without Leo?)_ to her cabin, and goes into the engine room to figure out how to take off. Jason trailed Annabeth listlessly through the ship, trying to help her in any way he could. The engine room looks the same as it always does. It feels wrong, somehow, that the pipes can still steam and crackle without Leo there to watch over them. Jason was left absently staring at the walls as Annabeth rummaged through the drawers, trying to find some hint of what they were supposed to do next _(gods know that Leo never let anyone else help him, determined to work himself to an early grave)_ After a minute or two, she pumped her fist in the air in triumph. 

__

Annabeth and Jason gather around a sheaf of papers labeled as _Instructions for the Argo II_. When they open the first page, there's a paragraph written in Leo's neat, slanted script. It read as following:

__

_So, if someone is reading this, I'm going to go ahead and assume I'm dead, or pretty damn close to it. If I do end up dying, I'll be sorry to deprive you all of my brilliance. Don't be upset, though. Maybe I'll see my mom again, and that's probably more than I deserve in the first place._

__

_Leo out_

__

Annabeth's hand stilled as she read the paragraph. Jason could see her struggle not to glance up at him. She flipped the next page, which was the actual manual, entirely handwritten. 

__

"Right then," Annabeth babbled, seemingly not knowing what to say. "I'll...uh leave you here for a bit". She hurried out of the room, leaving Jason by himself. He wasn't entirely sure what to do. It seemed so long ago that he and Piper had his birthday celebration in the park. Jason winced as he remembered Leo hadn't even been there. What type of person was he to not invite his ~~best friend~~ _(you know there was more to it than that, don’t you?)_ to his birthday celebration in favor of Piper. And now there was nothing that he could do to make up for it. 

__

After what was probably hours, Percy came to the engine room. He took in Jason's catatonic state, and tapped his shoulder. He smiled sadly, "Come on, Jason. We're eating dinner".

__

__

Jason got up from ~~his~~ _(Leo's) _chair and followed Percy out of the room, neither of them saying a word. When Jason arrived, he saw that the rest of the crew was already there, with Nico sitting where Leo always did. Di Angelo turned his head as Jason came in, staring him down with those obsidian eyes.__

____

__

____

"He's...gone on." Nico delivered the news almost calmly, with the air of one used to death. Jason felt the world spin, the dining room turning into a whirl of color. Of course, he had assumed that Leo was no longer living _(laughing, creating, building)_ , but hearing it presented as an unavoidable fact made everything so much more real. Jason's mind was filled with a portrait of Leo, his bird bone body broken against dusty dirt. Ever-warm skin gone cold at last, crimson blood coating his thick hair, those delicate, always moving fingers mutilated and still. 

____

__

____

It was a uniquely horrible thought, but one that Jason could tell would be taking up permanent residence in his brain for the foreseeable future. He heard an odd gasping, choking sign, and it took him a second to realize it came from Piper. He reached out his arms for her blindly, and she slammed into him with the force of a truck. They slowly sunk down to the ground together, holding on like a lifeline. Leo had sacrificed himself to save Jason.

____

__

____

_And Jason was in love with him the whole time._

____

__

____

Sure, he had tried to deny it to himself. Pretended that he and Leo were completely platonic, but Leo made that impossible. No matter what he did, Jason was always drawn back to him. Leo of the wild hair, and the sharp wit, and-the Leo who’s falling body would haunt Jason’s nightmares for the rest of his life. The Leo who dropped thousands of feet into an abyss so Jason wouldn’t have to.

____

The Leo who wasn’t coming back. 

____

**Author's Note:**

> I will never stop writing pointless things.


End file.
